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"That which does not kill you, makes you stronger."- Handed down through the ages."Life's tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid."- John Wayne

What's YOUR 'Sound of Summer'?

I had a weird night's sleep . . . or weird morning . . . or . . . ? I went upstairs to watch a movie last night at 9:00 . . . and woke up on the couch this morning at 6:00 to daylight and the TV off! I vaguely remember trying to keep my eyes open through the flick ('The Secret Life of Bees'). Usually a good movie will keep me awake, but not so this time, I guess!

Anyway . . . .

This past week has brought some wonderful signs that springtime is really coming! First off were the pussy willows (already a week ago, at least). Then I heard the first bird song of spring - you know, the long melodious ones that entice you to get up each morning? I wish I knew bird identification well enough to know WHICH bird it was, but I think it was some sort of finch.

My favorite summertime bird has shown up (albeit a bit early, it seems): the Red-Winged Blackbirds. I guess they aren't the most striking of birds, even with the brilliant red and yellow wing bars, but their song is MY "sound of summer". What's yours?

The rhubarb and day lilies up by the garage started poking through. They're the only plants with enough southern exposure to have any hope this early: everything else is still buried under feet of snow! (You'll have to look carefully to see the green in the day lily patch below.)

The hard, skating-rink-like ice has been replaced by the soft-crumbling variety, and where there's no snow the mud is getting deeper every day. The 5% of the chicken yard that is free of white stuff is . . . well . . . disgusting! Here's Tucker standing knee-deep (okay, so that's not sayin' much!) in the mud and water on the driveway.

I've gotten in two long walks with the dogs recently - the snow finally being low enough that I can get around in many places inaccessible all winter.

Last Friday we headed over to a favorite destination that was logged recently. I was amazed at how low the snow was - didn't seem like I was breaking through much at all. Famous last words. Here I am, just about as deep as I could go!

Okay, I'll sign off for now. I feel like it's taken me about 3 hours to write this post this morning! Must have something to do with not going to bed last night. ;)

2 comments:

My 'Sound of Summer' (although up here I don't know as I could term it 'summer' yet) is, like you, definitely the sounds of the birds in the early morning. Makes me feel like I could throw on shorts and a tank top and run outside . . . whoops, it was just 28° this morning.

I'm amazed to see your rhubarb and lilies poking through. I'm gonna go put on my boots, down jacket, hat and gloves and go right out and check mine.

I've been waking up lately not knowing at all where I am. Last night I fell asleep on Etienne's floor after putting him to bed; the other morning, I woke up to daylight in our (my and Pierre's) room and couldn't figure out when I'd stopped nursing and put Etienne back to sleep! As for favorite sounds of summer: birds are up there; I also like that crackling sort of sound when you water the garden and the water is sinking into the ground.

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